Sunday, August 17, 2014

State Of The Field

As the Democrats wait for Hillary to make it official, the Republican field promises to be another clown car cavalcade.

Rick Perry's indictment may be a joke, but it's still an indictment. Scott Walker probably deserves to be indicted more, and maybe that will happen. Chris Christie has become something of a punchline.

Rick Santorum is laying the groundwork, but he's so remarkably devoid of charisma, it's tough to see him excelling beyond his Christianist base.

Rand Paul is the most interesting GOP hopeful, but it's very tough to see him winning the GOP primary.

The past few cycles have seen the Tea Party Right push the GOP's moderate candidate so far to the right that the election is over before it begins. So that the GOP winds up nominating a McCain or a Romney, but saddled with Santorum and Steve King's ideas.

So it's likely that the GOP will again settle on a "moderate" Republican who will spend the primaries saying things that makes him unelectable.

Jeb Bush is always a possibility, but he's about as politically relevant as Al Gore at this point. Grasping for another Bush seems an act of desperation as much as anything.

Which leads me to look at Paul Ryan as the likely Wall Street Republican who will be saddled with the Tea Party baggage.

The wild card is Ted Cruz. Unlike Santorum, he has a modicum of charisma; he's the de facto Speaker of the House and voice of the Tea Party and he's laying the groundwork for a White House run.